Iran & the Ahwaz environment crisis

There have been a variety of reports in the media about last month’s dust storms and environmental crisis in Ahwaz and Khuzestan Province, located in the country’s southwest border and bordering Iraq. Considering the enormous crisis the world witnessed, especially with the Iranian people taking to the media to unveil the atrocious conditions. The question is does the mullahs’ regime in Iran have any policy to tackle this problem?

No solution can be possibly found in the framework of this regime, according to experts in Iran and those abroad. This is the truth about all other environmental problems in Iran, while we are specifically discussing the water and dust storm crisis in Ahwaz and Khuzestan Province.

Iran’s water sources, above ground or below surface, are in critical conditions, with experts saying in ten years’ time two thirds of Iran will be desert lands. The city of Urmia in northwest Iran is home to central Asia’s largest intake waterbody, known as Lake Urmia. However, this once huge water source is now drying up, literally.

This very spot is now becoming the source of dust storms and a new and very lethal phenomenon known as salt storms, gravely impacting the lives of 14 or 15 million people. Cancer statistics are dangerously on the rise in Iran, too.

On the other hand, in Iran’s southeast region of Hamoun and Sistan & Baluchistan we are witnessing a very similar scenario. Other water sources and lagoons in the middle of Iran, in Fars and Kerman provinces, to be exact, we are witnessing another such situation with the above ground water sources.

And the truth is no actions have been taken by the mullahs’ regime to resolve these dilemmas. Senior Iranian regime officials are only concerned of their profits, adopting a major desertification policy and constructing a large number of dams, launching deep oil rigs in search of enormous profits, while caring less and destroying underground water pockets. As a result such water sources are being annihilated and leading to severe damages to Iran’s once rich forests.

All the while, Iran’s factions are more concerned about their own political and economic interests, holding all others responsible for the recent dust storm crisis. This can be seen in the remarks made by Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his loyalists in their lashing at Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and his faction, blaming them for failing to take any actions. Rouhani, in response, says all such problems were inherited by his cabinet from the previous presidency, especially from firebrand Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

This shows this is part of the entire crisis faced by the Iranian people, as the regime in Tehran fails to have any serious resolution to these crises.